The Word by Catherine Gordon

Like wine aficionados there are book connoisseurs and there are book consumers… I think fall into the consumer category for both wine and books, often indulging in a trashy book and a cleanskin at the same time, my guilty pleasure. Sometimes I will read a book simply because it is so beautifully composed, reading and re-reading eloquent passages for the sheer joy of the prose, but most of the time I’ve got my nose stuck in an addictive trilogy just to find out what nasty things Christian Grey does next to Annastasia Steele! I don’t care why you read as long as you are not missing out on to world of books!

Like me, my friend Catherine is an avid reader and it appears also a fabulous writer. She recently showed me a piece she had casually tapped into the notes app of her iPhone and I loved it so much I insisted on sharing it on my blog. I also asked her to pick her top 5 book recommendations to accompany her piece.

“The following are 5 books that come to mind, but are not necessarily my all time favourite books. I would highly recommend all of these books, but wouldn’t say they are the best ever written, or even that others will enjoy them. I think it is impossible to pick a short list of favourite books, and quite frankly is torturous to me to do so. But nonetheless, here is 5 that have made an impact on my love of literature at different times in my life:

1. Ursula Le Guin – Earthsea series

2. Arthur Golden – Memoirs Of A Geisha

3. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby

4. Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts

5. Paul Harding – Tinkers”

The Word

———-

When I am wholly engrossed in a book I go to another plane.
It is a place of blissful escapism
where those left behind in the mortal world
cannot reach me without physical intervention.
I don’t need to know what heaven is, I’ve already found it.

It is varied in its form, ranging from beautifully crafted prose
to everyday vernacular, each uplifting in its own way.
I have found heaven riding the waves of the ocean,
flying on the back of a dragon, walking through a wardrobe,
being chased by a serial killer, as a guest at a neighbour’s
opulent parties and falling in love over a snow cone.
To name only a few.

This plane is understood by millions around the world;
a collective soul floating on the luxuriousness of language.

Yet many choose not to partake in this journey.
A tragic waste of language
by those who have the means to understand.

Sadder still, is the lack of education around the world.
The withholding of knowledge
that would allow those in the most despairing of situations
the ability to seek a moment’s respite;
their portion of heaven,
if only for five minutes.

They say you don’t miss what you don’t know.
I believe the essence of a reader’s being
will miss this heaven in spite of the unknown.
A golden nugget somewhere within a reader
that radiates warmth in the presence of literature.
A genetic predisposition to the worship of the word.